By Derrick Silimina
As the world moves more decisively towards a green energy transition following rising demand for manganese each year, a Zambian mining stalwart has set his sights far beyond the critical metals’ production.
Dr. Sixtus Mulenga is a mining trailblazer and founder of Zambia’s very first wholly, privately-owned large-scale mining firm - ‘Musamu Resources,’ an emerging mineral exploration and mining company. Musamu which means a ‘tree’ in Tonga dialect, is a philosophical term signifying growth and development.
The 71-year-old mining expert became the first Zambian mining geologist to be employed at Bancroft - the present day Konkola Copper Mine (KCM) which was then operated by Anglo American. Since the onset of his mining career, Dr Mulenga’s pioneering approach to the mining industry inspired him to become among the first Zambians to qualify as a geologist back in the 1970s, after he attended North London Polytechnic, attained a Master’s and then a PhD at London’s Royal School of Mines, Imperial College of Science Technology & Medicine, University of London.
After leaving University, Dr. Mulenga’s lifelong dream as a young geologist was his aspiration to one day find a mineral deposit of his own, an idea that was entrenched in him after he became the first Zambian mining geologist at then Bancroft mine, now known as KCM which was named Bancroft then after the geologist who discovered the bancroft deposit and Anglo America honoured him by what he did.
In early 2009 after his over 35 years industry experience both in Zambia and the global mining arena, Dr. Mulenga embarked on an odyssey of starting his own self-funded mineral exploration project and settled on a 1,000-square-kilometre piece of land in Chipili District of Luapula Province – home to several large geological basins, where part of the Central African Mineral Belt rolls over Zambia’s borders.
“It was a life plan for me, which I created when I graduated because at the University of London, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College where I got my Doctorate and Masters Degrees, in west London, they were teaching us how to give back to society. They were teaching us principles of sustainability. When you have all this knowledge at the end of the day, what contribution are you going to make to human society? So that was always at the back of my mind. Yes, I work to provide a living for my family but beyond that, I crystallised all this knowledge and went out in the bush and found a gift I will give back to society,” Dr. Mulenga told Solwezi Today magazine in an exclusive interview.
In 2012, after three years of arduous mineral exploration with his technocrats which involved land surveying, geological mapping, geochemistry soil sampling and geophysics survey of the area among others, Dr Mulenga disclosed that his dream finally came to pass as he eventually discovered manganese ore at the bottom of a two metres trench, a development that tranquilised his long and illustrious mining career.
Today, Dr. Mulenga is indeed living his dream as the whole idea of building his mining project is to have a fully-integrated mining business, with a plan to build a manganese processing plant to a stage where it can feed into the electric car battery-manufacturing value chain.
He hinted that in the location where his mining operation is currently underway, there is a certified reserve of one million tonnes but there is approximately 40 million tonnes of manganese resource.
“I don't get disturbed by challenges that I come across as I just see them as hurdles that need to be sorted out. That's why I am inner driven, intrinsic driven and believe in myself that if somebody else can do it, I can also do it. There's nothing special because the only difference is time and one’s capacity because as you know, exploration is capital intensive and needs a lot of money and I did it from my own funds,” he affirmed.
Arguably, the potential for Zambia to tap into opportunities for value addition are indeed far-reaching, and extend into several sectors. But above all, Dr Mulenga’s pioneering groundwork for economic diversification around his new mine has cheered many stakeholders.
For this reason, Dr. Mulenga has held corporate senior executive management positions for several years including as a non-executive board director of several international stock exchange listed companies operating in Zambia. At national and international levels, he has also provided mining consultancy and technical advisory services to the Government of Zambia and the World Bank.
The versatile mining guru is also a Chartered Engineer – UK Engineering Council, a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and Member of the Institution of Mining & Metallurgy UK, Registered Engineer & Member of the Engineering Institution of Zambia, Executive Member of the International Mine Water Association, Council Member of the Zambia Chamber of Mines, Chairman of the Geological Society of Zambia and past Chairman of the Zambia Branch of the Southern Africa Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Looking into the future, Dr Mulenga’s mind is brimming with ideas for creating an ecosystem in which mining operations catalyse development in sectors like agro-processing and manufacturing that can sustain themselves beyond the life of mine.
As a result of his other acclaimed past roles he served including as Group Consulting Hydro-Geologist at Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Ltd, Chief Geologist of Konkola and Nchanga Mines, as well as General Manager Corporate for Albidon Zambia Ltd respectively, Dr. Mulenga is a proud father of three biological children and has been married to Rebecca Mulenga for 44 years.
In his spare time away from his mining activities, Dr. Mulenga enjoys family time. He likes reading books and participates in body wellness activities through yoga, swimming and jogging. He is also a staunch Catholic by faith.
“I am blessed with three biological children. Okay, a son who is late and my two daughters, the ones that you've seen, but beyond that, I have more than three children. And then I took over my siblings' children. So from my siblings, I have seven children who I raised and educated. So in total, I have 10 children and the youngest one is graduating this year as a mechanical engineer at University of Cape Town,” he shared.
Asked what legacy he would love to leave for his country once all is said and done especially in the mining industry, Dr. Mulenga chuckled and highlighted that he would love to demonstrate that Zambia must believe in itself and that any dream is doable provided one exercises patience, focus, tenacity and stability of mind.
In a presentation he delivered recently in Lusaka during the Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) organised programme dubbed, ‘The future of mining in Zambia,’ Dr. Mulenga reiterated, “As a country, we need to encourage Zambians to go into mine exploration. There must be capital markets, we must be able to raise money within the country to do it. Because you cannot do your exploration or develop a mine by selling your property or house or selling vegetables. It's impossible!”
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